1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to insect traps and particularly to a trap utilizing a conventional receptacle mounted electric night-light as a light source for luring and exterminating fleas.
2. Background Art
U.S. Pat. No. 4,157,629 teaches use of an electrically energized specific invisible light source, namely, UV radiation, for attracting flying insects. U.S. Pat. No. 3,513,585 teaches a trap for trapping flying insects in which upwardly reflected light as well as upwardly radiated light from a visible electrically energized flourescent lamp source is used to attract flying insects. Fleas, unlike flying insects, move by leaping or hopping from position to position by reason of being wingless and non-flying. A white electric light suspended over a pan of water has been used but has not proven effective for trapping large numbers of fleas. Because of the nature of fleas, a trap for trapping wingless, non-flying fleas must take into account many considerations that do not affect traps for trapping flying insects. Thus, a flea trap must be accessible to the fleas that hop from a source such as a carpet infested with fleas. A trap which is positioned several feet in the air may be completely suitable for catching flying insects but may be totally unsuited for catching fleas.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,566,220 describes an effective yet simple flea trap in which an electrically energized green light is used as the light source. The green light source is suspended immediately below a cover having a light reflective surface and the reflected green light as well as the directly radiated green light is directed downwardly to a shallow pan having a sticky substance and over which the light and cover are supported.
The present invention seeks to simplify the flea trap construction by associating an electrical night-light as the light source and a reflector and sticky landing surface with the electrical night-light.